Melting Frozen Hearts
by daydreamingdaily
Summary: 3 months after The Great Thaw, all is well in Arendelle. Anna and Elsa are sisters again. Nothing could be better until one day a stranger enters their lives, on the run from his past, a magical secret, and an enemy who wants him dead. Will Elsa be able to overlook her past and thaw a frozen heart? Can she save her loved ones from danger? Or will she need saving herself?
1. Prologue: Espen's Story

**Okay. So here is the first part of the fan fic. It's a prologue, and will tell the story of a character that will be introduced into the world of Frozen. We get to see our favorite snowsisters in Chapter 1, where all the fun begins.**

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Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there was a kingdom. It was an ordinary kingdom with ordinary people. The kingdom was ruled by a lovely, beautiful queen and a fair, just king. They watched over the land and the people with great joy and great happiness. There was no one in the kingdom, however, who was happier than a young farm boy named Espen. He was 15 and the happiest of souls, living and working on his grandparent's farm, and spending his lazy afternoons with his lifelong best friend Freya.

The boy and girl had been friends since they were very young, and did everything together. Years flew by and the young Espen turned 18 and inherited his grandparent's farm. Freya had flowered into a beautiful young woman, and Espen had grown into a strong young man. As the years had passed, their friendship blossomed into something more and they fell in love. Espen's life may seem ordinary, but something was special about him, something very special. It was something that only he knew about; not his grandparents, and not even Freya.

For you see, Espen had power over ice and snow. He could control it. He could make it snow on a hot summer's day or freeze over the nearby lake. He loved his powers for they made him who he was and made him unique. Upon asking Freya to marry him, he shared this precious secret with her, for any future children they could have would likely inherit the magic as well. He was understandably nervous, but Freya took the news exceedingly well and loved him just the same. Life in the kingdom continued happily as Espen and Freya anxiously awaited the day of their marriage.

That is, until one fateful day.

A beautiful but wicked sorceress cursed the king's land in return for the broken heart he gave her in his youth. The kingdom panicked as drought and famine swept across the land. Disease spread like wildfire and people contracted it left and right. The king saw what was happening to his people and was just about to leave to plead with the witch to undo it all, when the queen fell ill. Upon this occurrence, he raced against time to bring back the witch. He pleaded and pleaded with her, but she said there was nothing he could do to save his wife, and nothing he could do to fix her broken heart and make her reverse the curse.

Overwhelmed with anger, sadness and fear the king killed the witch instantly and returned home. By killing the sorceress he lifted the curse, but upon his return home he found that it had not been in time for his queen died shortly before the curse was lifted. The kingdom mourned its queen, but no one mourned more than the king. He blamed himself. He hated himself for trying to plead so many times with the witch rather than just killing her. From that day forward he hated all magic of any sort, and sought to rid his kingdom of it. His heart turned to stone, and he turned into a tyrant.

Three years had passed since the curse first started, and Freya and Espen had put off their marriage to focus on surviving. Now that the curse had lifted, they planned to marry again. Fate had other intentions, for the king's advisor suggested the need for him to marry again and produce an heir to the throne. The king agreed, and with his heart turned dark he sought out the most beautiful maiden in all the land.

While on his quest, the king happened upon Espen's farm and the lovely Freya tending to her chores. He instantly had to have her as his wife. Espen had just arrived back from the fields as he saw the gathering of villagers, knights, and the royal court in front of his home. He was informed that the king wished to take Freya as his new wife. Outraged, Espen attacked the knights guarding the king but to no avail. He was knocked to the ground. The king ordered him to be executed for attacking a member of the royal guard. In a desperate attempt to save her love's life, Freya agreed to marry the king on one condition: he must free Espen and never punish him for his small, desperate act of treason. The king hastily agreed and they were on their way back to the castle.

As Espen lay on the ground covered in mud he called out to the other villagers to help him get Freya back, but they were too scared of the king's wrath to do much of anything. Angered by this cowardice and heart-broken because Freya was taken from him, he made a plan to get her back; a plan that involved his magical secret.

That night he stormed the castle with his ice magic and made his way to the throne room. There, the king was sitting in his throne with Freya being held prisoner by two guards just to the right of it. The guards rushed him but he thrust them back against the wall and froze them there so they were unable to move. At first he tried reasoning with the king, saying no one could ever replace the queen, and that the king should give up trying to do so. The king responded to Espen, telling him he was lucky that he freed him from the confines of marriage. He told Espen that one day Freya would have left him, whether it be for another man or whether it was moving on to the next life. He told Espen that, besides, Freya was too beautiful for the likes of a peasant farm boy, and that she had left him for a better life with the king.

The king attempted to fill Espen's mind with poison, but Espen knew the truth for the love in his heart kept him from being blinded by the king's words. Although he saw through it, Espen grew tired of the kings rantings, for he no longer had any tolerance for the tyrant of a man that stood before him. He missed the old, joyous king, and hated the broken down, evil man he saw that day. Espen lashed out and decided he would rid the kingdom of the villain once and for all.

Espen was so focused on the king that he didn't see that one of the guards had managed to free himself of his icy prison. Just as Espen sent the magic flying in the king's direction, the guard made a last-ditch effort to save the king and threw Espen to the floor. This caused misdirection in the magic's course as instead of hitting the king square in the chest, it found a new target. Espen blasted the guard back against the wall, this time knocking him unconscious. But when he turned back to face the king once more, he saw what had happened. And what he saw broke his heart into a million pieces.

The icy magic had instead found its way into Freya's heart, and because the blast was so filled with hate, it froze her instantly, leaving no time for a true love's kiss to save her from a terrible, icy fate. Espen rushed to Freya's crumpled, frozen form, tears streaming down his face and his sobs filling the air. What hurt him most wasn't that Freya was gone; it was that he had caused it because of his hatred towards another person. In attempting to kill the king, he had become a monster; a monster that had killed the love of his life.

The king chuckled behind him, commenting that it was Espen's fault that Freya was gone, and that he had brought it upon himself. He didn't hear the king's comment as his grief overtook him. He thought the only way he could be with Freya again and rid himself of his pain and his guilt, was to do the same thing to himself that he had done to her. He held her frozen figure in his arms as he lifted his right hand out in front of himself and turned it inward. He summoned all of the magic to his outstretched hand, and with a heavy, broken heart, unleashed it upon himself.

The blast was so powerful that it threw him against the opposite wall. He began to feel the ice layering quickly over his heart, but to his dismay, he didn't freeze over solid. He was still alive and breathing. The only difference was that where his heart should be, he felt a frozen solid mass in its place. To Espen's horror, the pain and sadness still hung like a dark, massive storm cloud over his heart. He sat up and buried his head in his hands, his body contorting in agony at the loss of Freya and not being able to ease his pain.

The kings advisor and some more guards rushed into the throne room just then, and paused in the doorway as they took in the scene before them: the kings new fiancée crumpled and frozen in the corner of the room, the boy she had been taken from and the obvious assailant wailing against the opposite wall, and the king now fully insane laughing maniacally in his throne, cursing the boy out.

The king's advisor managed to hoarsely voice the question flitting between the other newcomers.

"What happened here?"

"What happened here is not at all important", chuckled the king. "What's important is that we now have someone who needs to be punished, and I know the perfect way to do it."

The king walked over to Espen menacingly and picked him up by the collar of his shirt. The king chuckled malevolently. Espen eagerly awaited the quick, sure end he thought was in store for him, hoping that his pain would be gone momentarily. A few seconds passed as Espen exhaustedly stared into the king's crazed stare.

"Oh, I'm not going to kill you", murmured the king. "No. What I am going to do to you is much worse than any amount of torture I could have rained down upon you. No. I'm going to make you live with your guilt and your curse."

The king threw Espen back to the ground and yelled at the guards to get him out of his sight. The guards stood, looking at the king with confused expressions on their faces.

"Don't you understand!?" the king roared. "He's banished! Exiled! I never want to see his face in my kingdom AGAIN!"

The guards scrambled as they picked up Espen and dragged him out of the castle. He hung his head as everything that had happened settled in his mind. First he lost Freya, and now he was being forced out of the only home he had ever known. He had lived in his beloved Ysteriath all his life, and it was where he fell in love with Freya, which made leaving all the more difficult. One of the guards escorting him to the edge of the kingdom's territory took pity on the poor 21 year old Espen, and escorted him back to his farm land so he could gather things he would need to take with him.

"Take what you want but make it quick", the guard said to him.

He walked in the door of his now very empty cottage and looked around with sunken spirits. He made quick work of gathering the necessary things for survival. He packed his clothes, gathered all of the food he had room for, as well as a few of the trinkets and memorabilia from his grandparents. He picked up his favorite drawing of Freya he had drawn the day he asked her to marry him. As he began to walk out the back door towards the barn to ready his horse, he spotted Freya's favorite scarf lying across the back of a chair in the kitchen. He walked over and picked it up. Holding it up to his face he drunk in her scent, smelling the sweet perfume he had gotten her for her last birthday. He had saved up quite a lot to get it, and she had worn it every day since. He wrapped the scarf around his neck and headed out to gather his horse.

Dawn was breaking as Espen stepped into the barn. It felt like an eternity since he had been in here. He walked over to his horse's stall.

"Hey, Andar", Espen greeted the horse as he pet his nose. Espen explained to the horse, which seemed to listen, that they were leaving the farm and that they were going to find a new home. He finished tacking him up and threw a saddle bag over the horse's back and threw more supplies in there. He walked his horse around to the front of the house where the 2 guards were waiting for him. Espen walked up to the man that had taken pity on him and thanked him for his pity and handed him a note he had written earlier, and instructed him to find his cousin and give the note to him once he had left the kingdom. He also told both the guards what was in the note so they weren't suspicious. He told them that in the note he informed his cousin that he was leaving the kingdom because he couldn't bear to live there now that Freya wasn't his any longer. He would tell his cousin not to try and find him, and to not expect to hear from him. And with that Espen climbed atop Andor, kicked him swiftly in the side, and took off.

Espen galloped atop Andar out of his old home, and headed for the forest path that led away from the kingdom. He didn't look back as he reached the forest, not even when he passed the sign that directed visitors towards the kingdom behind him. All Espen could manage to do as Andar galloped away into the breaking day was to lift his hand and wipe away the single tear that had begun to fall.

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 **So this is my first fan fiction. This is only the prologue. I hope you enjoy it! Please review and let me know what you thought! Next chapter will hopefully be up on the 6th or 7th of June.**


	2. Chapter 1: Nightmares

**I am so very sorry to those who follow or read this story. I promised chapter 1 way back in June, already late. And here I am, 3 months later, just now posting it; just now finishing writing it. It's been a whirlwind of a summer. With all the traveling, sickness, celebrations and now with school starting back up, I have been busier than ever. Things just started slowing down last week, and I worked on this chapter over the weekend and today. I really wanted to have it up yesterday but obviously that didn't happen. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and let me know what you thought. I am really going to try to have chapter 2 up by the end of this weekend but bear with me.**

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 _She was in a very unfamiliar place; where exactly, she couldn't tell. The view from the windows didn't help at all, as the landscape was drastically different from that of Arendelle. No fjords, no vast seas emptying into rivers, no towering peaks and hillside villages. Instead she saw dense forests and rolling farmlands. There were mountains, but much smaller than what she was used to; so much so that she almost thought them to be hills._

 _Wherever Elsa was, she was in a castle; more specifically, a throne room. On one of the adjacent walls, she saw a portrait of a very happy man and woman, and judging from their clothing and crowns, they were royalty. Suddenly, she started moving, but not of her own volition. Elsa felt something very odd and fiery burning within her heart, something she had ever only felt a glimpse of once before in her life, when she was being attacked by the Duke of Weaseltown's henchmen in her ice palace on the North Mountain. She felt hatred. It burned her to the core, painful. She felt as if at any second she would explode._

 _As she continued walking towards a man on the throne, who appeared to be the king in the portrait, with golden flowing hair and a beard to match, she was attacked by guards. It was then that Elsa felt the familiar sensation of ice flowing through her veins, towards her hands, where she unleashed her powers on the men. She looked down, watching the ice begin to form around her fingers, frosting her tunic and… trousers?_

 _It must be a dream, but it felt so real, especially when she unleashed her icy might upon the guards attacking her._ No! _she thought._ I don't want to hurt these men! I don't want to hurt anyone ever again! _She tried to stop herself from flinging these men across the room and freezing them to the wall, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't. Everything started to speed up, images flashing before her eyes and emotions streaking like lightning through her heart: love- a girl in the corner about her age, hatred- Elsa's hands wielding a ball of ice magic and aiming it at the king's heart, anger- being knocked to the floor, despair- when she saw the girl frozen solid and crumpled on the floor, depression- as she held the girl in her arms and satisfaction- as she attempted to freeze her own heart, knowing it would all soon be over._

 _The last image that fled through her mind was the king, stalking over to her and picking her up by the collar and laughing maniacally as he chanted in her face_

 _"_ _It's your own damn fault, you fool! Your own damn fault!"_

 _And as he dropped her to the floor, she glanced over once more at the frozen figure. But instead of finding the stranger, she saw her sister frozen instead, pain, fear, and betrayal forever formed on her face._

"No! Anna!" Elsa screamed as she opened her tear-filled eyes and jumped upwards out of her bed, unfortunately colliding with her 18-year-old redheaded sister.

"Ow! Elsa, are you okay!?" Anna questioned, concerned, from the floor as she rubbed her head.

"Yeah… I'm… fine. Ouch," Elsa groaned, massaging her forehead as well, knowing very well that would be bruised by the evening. _It was only a dream_ , she thought, calming herself down from her nightmare and the sudden awakening that followed it. She conjured up a block of ice and handed it to Anna, who thanked her in return, and then proceeded to do the same for herself.

"Sooo….What was that all about?" the curious, pigtailed redhead asked her again.

"Nothing, just a nightmare I suppose." She didn't really want to tell Anna the details of her horrible experience in that dream world, especially the last part. Elsa shuddered just remembering it.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, I- I'd rather not, if that's okay."

"Elsa, you know you can tell me anything, right? We've established this," Anna asked her sister once more, worry plainly etching across her face.

"Yes, of course! I know that, Anna, and as much as I want to tell you- I really do- I just, don't want to relive it. Especially because y-," Elsa cut off, knowing she had gone too far to back out now.

"Because I was in it," Anna murmured quietly.

Elsa looked down, eyes closed, and nodded her head slightly. Every time Anna had shown up in one of Elsa's nightmares, it was always Anna frozen solid in one way or another, a painful reminder of the day on the ice where she had almost lost her sister. She hated reminding not only herself of the pain she had caused, but she hated reminding her sister of it too. Anna had had nightmares for two weeks following, of being frozen solid, but they had gotten through it together. And now, here she was, reminding her sister of that terrible event once more.

"Elsa, it's okay. I'm over it. That was three months ago. The night terrors stopped two weeks after and since then I have been wonderful, especially because I've gotten my sister back, and that's the most important thing to me," Anna tried to reassure her elder sister. "But if you don't want to tell me, then that's fine. I understand."

Elsa nodded, considering her options, and finally settling on telling her sister once she's had the time to try and figure out what the dream was about to begin with.

"So, what were you doing in my room anyway, Anna? You never wake up before I do," Elsa giggled, more focused on why her sister had been in her room in the first place.

"Well, remember last month at my birthday when you were sick and you promised that in July you would take a weekend off for just the two of us to spend some time together? And remember how Kristoff has been gone all week harvesting ice? Well, guess what day it is!"

"Umm, Friday?"

"Yep!" Anna squealed, barely containing her excitement.

"But Anna, I have meetings planned for today and tomorrow with very important trade partners and-"

"No you don't."

"-if I don't meet with them I will- wait, what did you say?"

"I said you don't have any meetings. When you made the arrangements in the first place, when you sent out the letters I swapped them with my own, from 'you' of course, but setting the dates for next weekend. Don't worry, I checked your schedule and worked everything out because I am a master at surprises."

"Oh. Okay," Elsa truly didn't know what to say. If Anna had put that much thought into this whole situation in order JUST to spend the weekend with her, who knows what she could do. She would really have to keep an eye on the feisty redhead. She smiled. "Okay then Anna, I'm all yours. What do you have in mind for the weekend?"

"Well, remember how I've always wanted to go camping?" Anna grinned cheekily.

"This is going to be a long three days," Elsa mumbled under her breath.

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 _That same day, a two-and-a-half day's travel out of Arendelle..._

Espen looked down upon the distant town from the peak of the mountain he was standing on. The ground on the mountains was covered in snow, nothing like his homeland of Ysteriath, where the mountains were low to the ground and covered in trees, not high rocky peaks like this new kingdom. It had been a year since the tragedy that had befallen him back home. _Well, it's not my home anymore_ , he thought bitterly.

Espen had traveled far from Ysteriath in just one year. He had left his homeland to the west and traveled east, away from the budding province of Germany and up through what the people of the lower lands called The Frozen Country, for its vast expanse of untamed land and its harsh and vicious winters. He had continued north to the high country of the vast and towering peaks, and traveled south along the coast and over mountain ranges to the southernmost point of the large and mountainous terrain, to the small yet profitable and well-known kingdom of Arendelle. In all reality Arendelle was a mere three week's journey by boat from Ysteriath, but he figured no one would look for him so close to the kingdom he had run from, and if anyone had followed him, the roundabout path he had taken to get to Arendelle was so complicated there was no way anyone could have tracked him.

Arendelle from afar was still quite the magnificent city, beautifully placed on the edge of the water in the fjord. All around him, the snow on the mountainside glittered, and he could feel the pull of winter and cold from deep within his veins. _No. I mustn't use my powers. I can't._

"Well Andar, I think we've found our new home," Espen informed his steed who stood beside him. Andar whinnied in agreement, exhausted from traversing unknown and treacherous country for longer than he would have liked.

Espen hopped atop his stallion, and set out on the final leg of his journey. He knew not where he would end up in the small kingdom of Arendelle, or who he would meet, but he knew a good place to start.

"I'm thinking we look for work in an industry we could fit in, don't you think?"

Andar snorted.

"Alright then. It's settled. We look for a place we both can work. I hear harvesting ice is a big thing up in the high country, and from what I have seen, Arendelle is very adept in that department," Espen suggested.

His best friend gave a little nicker.

"I'm sure there is something you can do. I mean, they have to transport ice somehow, right?"

At that Andar kicked into a canter, excited to get their new life started.

"Easy there, bud. I know you're excited we're done traveling but let's try to get there in one piece, okay?"

Another whinny.

"Okay. Now we just have to find where to apply for the job."


	3. Chapter 2: Camping and Strange Meetings

**Hope you enjoy this one! It was fun to write.**

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"Anna, can you please tell me where we are going?" Elsa asked her sister as they rode along.

"Nope. No can do. It's a surprise!" The energetic redhead teased.

They had only just set out that morning around seven. Elsa was used to being up this early and was quite surprised by her sister's abundant excitement as she would normally be sleeping until ten. Anna had already packed Elsa's things and prepared their horses, Elsa's a beautiful white fjord mare whom she affectionately named Snowdrop when she was younger, and Anna's feisty grey fjord gelding whom the redhead had named Cocoa for her obsession of chocolate in her youth.

"Well, can you give me a hint?"

"No! I told you, Elsa, it's a surprise!"

Elsa sighed. She didn't like surprises. She liked to be able to plan everything out ahead of time. She'd loosened up quite a bit since what her subjects liked to call "The Great Winter". She'd begun to expect surprises from Anna, small ones at the most. But this was taking it to a whole new level. And now her stubborn sister wouldn't even divulge the location in which they would spend their camping trip.

They came to a stop outside a small cabin just beyond a trickling creek. Elsa looked over at Anna, puzzled.

"Wandering Oaken's Trading Post?" the platinum blonde puzzled.

"Mhmm. And sauna!" Anna giggled, obviously having some inside joke with herself.

"Well, what are we doing here?"

"Oh, well. Right, that. We need to pick up some food supplies, and I have to pick something up I left here when I came to find you."

"Oh. Well, what did you leave here?"

"Come in and you'll find out!" Anna jumped off of Cocoa, and tied him to a post so he couldn't run. She wouldn't be left without a horse here again.

Elsa did the same and followed. Anna strutted right up to the man at the counter.

"Yoo-hoo! Princess Anna, very good to see you again!" The large blonde-haired, bearded man greeted. "Here to pick up your dress, I presume?"

Elsa's attention snapped from the many trinkets and knick-knacks layered throughout the room back to where her sister was standing when she heard that comment.

"You bet! Elsa and I are on our way through, so I figured this would be a good time. Who knows when I would make it out here again!"

"Oh! I did not see the queen there. Yoo-hoo your majesty!"

"Oh, hello," Elsa waved. She had seen this man once before, but had not talked to him much at the time, nor knew that Anna had met him.

Oaken stood up and went to fetch Anna's dress, and when he brought it back Elsa realized it was the dress Anna wore on the day of her coronation. Elsa wondered what her sister had done with it.

They went on their way, remounting their steeds and continuing to their destination. Elsa remembered how after everything had thawed, Anna told her about her adventure and how she had met Kristoff, and she remembered her sister mentioning something about having to stop at a supply store in the mountains to get some warm clothes.

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It was afternoon by the time they reached their destination, and Elsa couldn't have been more surprised. It was a small cabin out in the middle of the woods, in a small clearing, not very far from the Valley of the Living Rock, if she recalled correctly. A few hours ride at least.

"What is this place?" she asked Anna.

"Well, this is Kristoff's cabin," she informed, blushing at the name of the blonde ice harvester who had captured her attention and her heart.

"I didn't know he had a cabin. I thought he was raised by the trolls?" Elsa was confused. She had heard many different stories when it came to the mountain man, for her sister talked about him often.

"Well, he was. When he got old enough he built himself a cabin not too far from the Valley so he could still be close but have a place to sleep when he was up harvesting in the high mountains to come home to every night. He said the trek from there back to the Valley was too far."

"Oh." Elsa took in the new information, and a new question formed in her mind. "But why are we here?"

"Oh, Kristoff said we could use it when we were camping. He's up in the mountains on the other side of the fjord, so he won't be here this weekend."

"Okay. But what happened to the camping? I thought we were staying in a tent?" Elsa was really confused now.

"Oh, don't worry Elsa. We are. You're not getting out of sleeping on the ground that easy. We're staying here because if a summer thunderstorm decides to pop up like they do, then we have shelter. And it's safer than staying out in the middle of nowhere where there are wolves. They don't like to be this close to the Valley. The magic scares them away."

Anna had thought everything out, but Elsa was sure Kristoff had a part to play in this idea too. The two had grown close since the events of her coronation, and Elsa had given Kristoff and Anna their blessing to officially court each other when he asked at Anna's birthday party. After the whole _Hans_ situation Anna wanted to take her relationship slow. She had learned her lesson the hard way.

"Alright, sis. Let's get to setting up camp. There's even a small stable to keep our horses!" Anna pointed out.

"But I thought Sven would have slept inside the cabin with him?" Elsa really needed to learn more about the guy who was dating her sister. This had shown her she really didn't know him that well. She could tell Anna was thinking the same thing, and that she had some sort of crazy idea in her head by the sideways devious look se gave her elder sister.

"No, he does. That was built for when Kristoff was raising cows," she giggled.

"Wait, what? Kristoff raised cows!?" Elsa was indeed shocked by this.

"Yep! Just two. He used them for milk and fertilizer for his garden," Anna stated very matter-of-factly.

"Wait, Kristoff had a garden?" Elsa just about fell off of Snowdrop.

"You really don't know as much as you thought you did, do you?" Anna chuckled.

The two slid off their horses and lead them to the small stalls. Elsa shook her head the whole way. She really didn't know as much as she thought. _I need to work on my social skills some more,_ she thought.

* * *

It was Sunday, and the queen and the princess were busy packing to head back to the castle. They actually had quite the fun weekend, despite Elsa's original worries. They had gone to visit the Valley of the Living Rock, as Elsa hadn't been since she was a child, and Anna wanted to show Grand Pabbie how much control she had gained over her powers since the coronation. It was quite fun, if a little awkward at first. The old troll gave her some tips and pointers and Bulda, Kristoff's adopted mother, generously supplied more information of Anna's suitor. Sometimes a little more than was necessary. But the troll woman suggested she get to know her future brother-in-law, as the trolls were all quite adamant on Kristoff and Anna's marriage at some point or another, whether they would have to surprise perform the ceremony again themselves. Elsa hoped if they did marry, it wouldn't be for at least another year. She wanted to get to know her sister again before she had to share her with the ice harvester.

It had also rained, and the cabin had come in handy. They had campfires and stayed up late talking and telling each other ghost stories, resulting in neither being able to sleep. At some point Olaf had found them. He was visiting the snow golem Elsa had created for protection, whom she called Marshmallow, and who Olaf had dubbed his brother, as well as all the "snowgies" that had come to life on Anna's birthday when Elsa had a cold. Olaf roamed where he pleased, and often was found visiting the queen's ice palace as well as the valley. He had grown quite fond of Kristoff's family. They all played in some snow Elsa created, building snowmen and snowdogs and snowreindeer upon Olaf's request. There was an epic snowball battle. All-in-all, it was a good weekend for the pair of royals, but now it was time to return back to Arendelle.

They were just about to mount their horses when a flash of brown came rushing at them from the trees at the edge of the little clearing, nearly colliding with them and their steeds. The sisters jumped out of the way as well as their horses, but the creature skidded to a halt and bucked off its rider before he was able to get ahold of the beast.

"Woah! Ahhh!" The person screamed as they flew through the air and landed in a pile of mud left from the melted snow Elsa had conjured earlier that weekend.

The mystery man's steed reared and whinnied. Elsa and Anna looked, puzzled at the stallion, who was brown with light dapples on its sides and a black mane and tail. Their own horses snorted in response to the stallion's antics.

"Ouch. That hurt. Thanks. Thanks a lot for that Andar!" the man called, apparently talking to his horse as he pulled himself to his knees, covered in mud. "Now look what you've done! I'm filthy! Now we have to go find a river I can bathe… in…" As the man turned, he saw he wasn't alone.

Elsa and Anna, on the other hand, were just as shocked as he was by their appearance.

"Oh. Well, I- um. H- Hello. This is awkward." The man stuttered as he saw the women gawking at him.

Anna just waved, barely containing her laughter as she looked at the mud-man. If it weren't for the fact they had seen where he came from, she would think he was a mud monster. He was soaked in the stuff head to toe. He would need more than just a bath by the time that mud dried.

Elsa looked over to her giggling sister, and decided to go help the man up, bringing with her one of the blankets they had purchased at Oaken's.

"That was quite the fall there," she commented, lending him a hand as he tried to stand.

"More like a flight!" Anna laughed from the background, finally giving into her laughter.

"Anna!" Elsa chastised her sister, who didn't hear her over her guffawing.

"Don't worry about it. It's really quite funny after the fact," he admitted. He stood and graciously too k the blanket from Elsa. "Thank you for your assistance, miss..?"

"Oh, of course. It's not a problem. I'm Q- Elsa. My name is Elsa." She smiled. She didn't want to intimidate the man, so he just left her queenly title to herself. She had gotten used to introducing herself to foreign dignitaries as 'Queen Elsa of Arendelle'.

"Elsa. That's a lovely name. I'm Es…," he began, but didn't finish as he finally got a good look at his helper. She was absolutely beautiful. He was enraptured by the way her platinum blonde hair shone in the sunlight, and the way her ice blue eyes sparkled when she smiled at him. For a second he was lost in a daydream, until Andar walked up behind him and pushed him into the woman.

They fell to the ground, a heap of tangled limbs and mud-soaked clothes. Elsa felt the wind get knocked out of her and her vision blurred briefly but when her eyes focused again they locked with this stranger's clear blue ones, and she blushed a deep, scarlet red. She couldn't see it, but the man was blushing as well. Anna laughed even louder at this, being driven to hysterics.

"I'm so sorry! My horse and I were having a disagreement, and he thinks it's funny to embarrass me when he's mad." From above them, the stallion snorted, trotting away as his owner reached for his reigns. He sighed. "I'm Espen, by the way." He was upright once more, this time offering Elsa a hand to stand.

"Well, very nice to meet you," she spoke quickly. The situation was getting more awkward.

"I don't suppose you know of a place where I can take care of this mess and perhaps even get some supplies and some rest? We've been traveling for quite some time now."

"Oh, yes. Of course. There's a small country shop down the hill a ways. They have a sauna and lots of supplies. He might have some lodging for you there."

"That sounds like the place to me. Well I suppose I best be off before this mud dries. It was nice to meet you, milady," Espen took her hand and placed a kiss upon it, causing Elsa to blush even brighter. He left a muddy mark on her hand from where his lips touched. Elsa was quite taken aback.

He waved to her and off he went, chasing down his horse and taking off when he finally caught the naughty creature.

"Oh, Elsa! Who's your new _boyfriend_?" Anna called, teasing her now mud- covered sister, as she skipped towards her.

"Oh, hush, you!" She laughed as she pushed Ana into the mud, eliciting a scream of surprise.

"You're gonna pay for that later Elsa!" Anna laughed as she stood from the mud puddle. "Or now. Come here! How about a hug for your favorite sister!?"

Elsa tried to run from the mud-covered princess, but she was enveloped in a muddy hug before she could escape.

"Oh boy. You know you're going to have to explain to Kai and Gerda why the royalty of Arendelle is covered in mud, right?" She laughed, playfully trying to pin the blame.

"Oh, no, Elsa. _We_ are going to explain to them why the Arendellian royalty is covered in mud, and why we had to walk through the town like this, letting our people see," Anna retorted, reminding her sister of the embarrassment that was about to commence.

"Well, at least we're fun rulers, right?" Elsa giggled, her sister joining in.

"That we are, Elsa. That we are."

* * *

 **Alright. We've seen some sisterly antics, teasing and fun. Elsa figured out how little she actually knew her sister's love interest, as did Anna. Both will be needing to change that soon, I believe. And we had a run-in with a mysterious man who caught the queen's attention, just as she caught his. Will they meet again? We will see. We will see. Review and let me know what you thought! Chapter 3 up next week!**


	4. Chapter 3: Explanations and Exploration

**Hey guys. Sorry this wasn't up over the weekend. Didn't get back till Sunday night and then it's been rush with the start of the week and I have been sick. But here you go! A new chapter! This one is the shortest so far, and will hopefully be the shortest of the story. I have some questions for my followers and everyone else who reads this... Is the story too slow going? Is there not enough action yet? How are the character's representations? Do they follow their film personalities? Do any of you have any suggestions to make the story better or anything you would like to see in the upcoming chapters? Anyway. Let me know. The action is really going to pick up next chapter, so prepare yourselves. Stuff is going down.**

* * *

"Is that the queen?"

"Why is Queen Elsa covered in mud, mama?"

"Princess Anna is too!"

"What do you think they were doing?"

"Who knows? Don't you like to have a little fun, too?"

Elsa smiled politely and waved as she and Anna passed through the main square of town, atop their mounts, caked with dry mud. The people were shocked to see the queen so unpresentable in public, as they had gotten used to her clean and crisp appearance. Princess Anna, on the other hand, was a completely different story. They were used to seeing her goof off and have fun, often resulting in the soiling of her clothes, and most of the time, they joined her in her childish engagements. Of course she told them stories of the wild times Elsa and her had had, which ended with her sister completely filthy or behaving the total opposite of what they had seen of her, and rarely believed the young princess. But now, well, they would start believing her stories more often after witnessing this spectacle.

Elsa's face burned brightly as they finally made it to the castle gates. Anna, was rather pleased with this, and was giggling under her breath beside her older sister. As they passed through the gate, the head handmaiden and head butler met them inside. Their titles said one thing, but to Anna and Elsa, they were like family. They had quite literally grown up with Kai and Gerda watching over them.

"Anna. Elsa. How was your camping tri-" Kai stopped short and stared in shock at the two royals.

"Girls! What on earth happened to you two!?" Gerda held her hand over her chest, eyes as wide as the moon. "You young ladies are absolutely filthy! Come, come! We _need_ to get you cleaned up!" The two elders quickly strode up to their horses and took the reins, handing them over to a pair of speechless stable boys once the sisters had dismounted.

"Well… I, uh…," Elsa could barely find the words to explain the interesting predicament she had been in this morning, along with the attractive stranger they had met. _Wait, what? Did I just call him attractive?_ Elsa thought, shocked by her own thoughts.

Anna giggled. "We were preparing to mount up when this monster sped out of the woods toward us, screaming. Until it wasn't a monster anymore. It was a horse and it bucked his rider into a puddle of mud, and I was laughing too hard to go and help the poor man, so Elsa went over and helped him up. Well, as they were staring into each other's eyes, his horse thought it would be funny if he pushed his rider over, who just happened to fall on top of Elsa. That's how she got mud on her at first, but then after her new boyfriend kissed her and rode away like a prince in a storybook, she pushed me in and then I gave her a hug and covered her in mud as well."

"Well then… I guess that explains everyth—wait. Anna, did you say boyfriend? Kissed?" Gerda asked, plainly distraught.

"It was nothing, Gerda. He just kissed my hand, and it was because I helped him up. I don't even know the man. You know how Anna is." Elsa blushed brightly, and hoped the two didn't notice. Or Anna for that matter. If she did that would render Elsa relentless teasing. Anna smiled mischievously behind her.

"Alright. Well you two are going to have a hard time getting that mud off, especially off your dresses!" Gerda sighed with realization that she had a long evening before her.

The girls nodded and followed their adoptive family into the palace and up to the bathrooms, ready to release themselves from their muddy prison.

* * *

 _Meanwhile…_

"Thank you, kind sir," Espen called as he exited the shop called Wandering Oaken's, and headed for the stable.

He had taken that beautiful woman's advice and come to this shop, and was extra kind to the man, who offered for him to sleep in the barn out back. Elsa really was beautiful, even more so than… _No. You can't think about her like that. You shouldn't ever think about anyone like that again,_ he chastised himself silently, as he had done many times since meeting her. She was so kind and gentle, and her eyes… _Oh, how they sparkled in the sunlight._ Espen was enraptured by her very presence. She calmed him. Every time he thought of her, he slipped into a dreamlike state, and quickly scolded himself after for doing so.

"What is wrong with me, Andar?" He questioned his steed.

No response.

"Come on, not even a sarcastic whinny?"

Andar snorted.

"I bet you thought that was funny, didn't you?"

A nicker.

"Yeah well, I don't appreciate it. Get some sleep, bud. We've got a long hike tomorrow," Espen sighed as he laid Andar's tack on the dry ground, and settled down onto the hay pile.

Tomorrow they would be heading up to the peaks, where Oaken had said the ice harvesters were currently located. He needed to find a man by the title of "Arendellian Ice Master and Deliverer". Hopefully he would be willing to give Espen and Andar some sort of job.

* * *

It was nearly noon by the time Espen and his friend had set out on the path to the mountain lake, and it was just after 2 by the time they reached it. The men were rugged and rough, of varying sizes and shapes. Some were short, some were tall; some had beards, others mustaches, and others no facial hair at all. They were all very muscular, however, and somewhat intimidating.

"Excuse me," Espen asked a tall man with a greying brown beard.

"Ah, yes. What can I do ya fer, lad? Aren't ye cold? Gets frightfully chilly up here near the North Mountain," he grunted.

"Y-yes, well. I'm looking for someone. The Arendellian Ice Master and Deliverer?" Espen continued, taken aback by his question, not in the least bit chilly. The cold had never really bothered him all that much.

"Och! You mean Kristoff? Good man, he is. Quite close with the princess, that one. Lucky fellow. Yah, he's over yonder on the other side of the fjord, checking up on the southern lakes. He won't be back up here for some time now, but if I recall he should be heading back to the Arendelle castle to meet up with his girl. Ye might want to check there." The man informed him.

"Okay. Well thank you." Espen nodded politely and made for the main city. Hopefully he could beat the night, and make it there in time, and if he was lucky, meet this Kristoff fellow as he returned from his journey.

As Espen galloped away, he didn't notice the three men stalking him in the shadows of the forest. The steel of their blades glinted in the afternoon sunlight, their faces and smoldering eyes shrouded in the shadows of their cloaks and hoods. Their steeds rustled beneath them, eager to move.

The leader, a bulky, bearded man, turned to the two behind him.

"Well at least we know his next destination and ours as well. Come men. If our luck holds, we'll capture that ice-demon by nightfall, along with our reward," the man nodded, his voice gruff and gravelly. "To Arendelle castle, men."

And with that he and his men spurred their horses and trotted off after Espen, following his trail that led down into the city.


	5. Chapter 4: Long Days and Crazy Fights

**Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry you guys. It's been crazy since the last time I posted. I hope you haven't given up on me! I'm still determined to finish this whole thing out, I just got really busy. Between papers and breaks, projects and so many other things, I've been super busy. I know I owe you guys like, at least 4 more chapters. I'll try to get one to two more up this weekend and hopefully catch up by the 16th. Well, anyway. Here you go. You get to see some action here, and this is where our story begins. Happy Reading!**

* * *

"Anna, have you decided yet what you wanted. I think our host has had enough of your sampling," Elsa whispered playfully to her sister.

The pair were at their favorite chocolate shop in downtown Arendelle, and Anna had nearly sampled every piece in the shop, as she did every time they came. Anna liked to know what she liked before she bought any chocolate, as she always stocked up on her current favorite of the week.

"Yup! Okay Bjorn, I'll have the…" Anna continued ordering, but Elsa's mind drifted to the mysterious man in the forest this morning. He was, something, she was sure of that. He had quite the personality, but something seemed, almost familiar, though she had never seen him before in her life.

"Your Majesty?" Bjorn was speaking to her, and she missed the conversation because she allowed herself to be distracted. She internally smacked herself. A queen should not be distracted in front of her people, it showed carelessness.

"Yes Bjorn? I'm afraid I missed the conversation." Her cheeks flushed slightly, but she kept her poise.

"I'm sorry Your Majesty; I only said that you needn't worry about Princess Anna and her sampling. You and Your Highness are my best customers."

"Well thank you, Bjorn. We will surely return." The two royals dipped their heads in thanks, and Bjorn bowed as they gathered their purchase and exited the shop.

"Alright Anna, let's get back-" Elsa started, but was interrupted by her sister.

"Oh, Elsa look!" Anna was already running off in another direction.

"Anna. We need to get back, I have some important-"

"Please, Elsa? You promised me you would take the _whole_ weekend off," Anna persistent.

Elsa sighed. She did promise. Anna certainly was a determined person, Elsa had to give her that much.

"Alright Anna, but we have to be back for supper. If we aren't, Kai and Gerda will be furious, and I think you would agree with me that we wouldn't want to anger them twice in one day."

Anna yelled her agreement as she grabbed Elsa's hand and proceeded to drag her into a dress shop.

* * *

Espen rode through town, asking for directions to the castle. He shouldn't have needed directions, the castle was plainly seen, as the path to it was along the main street of the town. Upon crossing the bridge, he hopped off Andar and headed for the gates, which were swung wide open. He was expecting to encounter some guards, but strangely, there were none to be seen. Little did he know, the guards on duty were currently tied up in one of the guard towers fast asleep.

"That's odd, don't you think Andar?" He asked his equine friend.

Andar tossed his head and snorted.

"Yeah I know. I would have at least expected some guards to greet people at the gate. Maybe they're all on break or something." He shrugged his shoulders and led his horse in the direction of the stable, hoping to find Kristoff there. He had asked some townsfolk if they knew where he could find Kristoff Bjorgman, and they told him if he was back and anywhere to be found, it would be at the castle stables, taking care of his reindeer.

"Hello!" He called through the stable door, but no answer came. "Hmm. Well I suppose we can always wait here until someone comes. I'm sure there will be someone coming to care for the horses later. We can just wait here."

"Or, you can come with us."

Espen whipped around at the gravelly voice behind him, and saw, standing in the shadows of the stable doorway, a tall, bulky man fidgeting with a drawn sword. As he watched, two more stepped out of the shadows and surrounded him, with their weapons at the ready.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Espen was sure he already knew the answer.

"You. Come with us now, and maybe, just maybe, things will go easy for you. On the other hand, that's not for us to decide."

"If it's all the same to you three, I think I'll stay here." Espen wasn't going to give in. He had already decided. He was never going back there again; too many painful memories.

"Well that's too bad, because one way or another, you're coming with us. We have been offered hefty pay to bring back your body, dead or alive," the assassin with the axe to his left side chuckled as he stepped closer.

If Espen wanted to get out of this, he would have to be creative. He could feel his powers tingling in his fingertips, urging to be released. _No. Never. I can never use this curse._ He looked around, searching for something he could use, anything, to get him out of this. Unfortunately for him, there was nothing close by he could grab. He'd have to use what little strength he had left after his year-long pilgrimage.

"Then try and take me, lads."

The leader, also the biggest, swung his sword at the direction of Espen's neck, and Espen dodged the swipe, but it was too close a call. He swung around and kicked the smallest man, who held a dagger, in the chest, knocking him backwards and downing for the moment. He turned back to face the other two perpetrators.

* * *

"Thank you, Elsa, for spending the weekend with me," Anna said to her sister as they started across the bridge that led back to the castle.

"Well," Elsa chuckled, "It's not like I had a choice."

"Hey!" Anna exclaimed, mock offense in her voice.

"I did have fun Anna. Thank you, for getting me out of my study for the weekend. It was very relaxing, though we did have a few bumps," Elsa referred to their muddy return earlier in the morning.

"Well, I'll have to make sure to plan things like this more often!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, now."

"Too late."

Elsa began to reply, but stopped short. They were just a little over halfway across the bridge, but something was wrong. She could hear the horses in the stables making a ruckus, and as she looked around, the guards normally posted at the gate and on top of the towers were missing. If she listened closely, she could almost hear shouting beneath the chorus of whinnies. She wasted no time in running the rest of the way across, closing the distance between her and the gate. She rounded the corner and made her way to where the stables were, only to find a full-on fight happening right in front of her eyes.

* * *

Espen was dodging what could be lethal blows and fighting back as hard as he could, and though a tough year on his own, living in harsh conditions had strengthened his body, he was still no match for two brawny assassins. He had disarmed the leader, knocking his sword from his hands, but the scoundrel pulled a knife from his boot. As Espen attempted to dodge the next thrust of the blade, a head full of platinum blonde hair caught his attention out of the corner of his eye, and the brute caught him right in the stomach.

"No!" Espen heard a woman's scream as he fell to the ground, and as his vision blurred, he could have sworn he saw a release of blue, icy magic fly above his head. Then everything went black.

* * *

"No!" Elsa screamed she watched the thug stab the man in the stomach. He fell to the ground, and Elsa did the only thing she could think of: send them running. She blasted the one that held the knife, encasing his hands in chunks of ice. This sent all three of them running, and as they left the courtyard, she continued to fire icy cold winter at their heels. A moment later, a group of her guards emerged from one of the towers, untying their hands. They ran to their queen, and she directed half to pursue the miscreants. The other half she ordered to stay behind and help.

She ran over to the man collapsed on the cobblestone, and once she reached him, she gasped.

"Espen! H-how? Quick! Guards, fetch the doctor and get this man to the infirmary!" Elsa caressed his face, he needed to hold on. She ripped a piece of cloth from her dress, and placed it over the wound, applying pressure. One of her tutors had taught her how to handle injuries, as they never knew what the princess might face. The assumption was nothing of this magnitude, but Elsa and Anna's father, King Agdar, insisted the princesses knew some basic aid just in case. The guards picked him up and placed him on a stretcher and began to head in the direction of the castle gates.

"The royal infirmary," Elsa insisted. The guards turned on their heels and rushed him into the castle as Kai and Gerda came rushing to meet the queen and princess.

"Are you girls aright?" Gerda asked as she reached the two royals, who nodded their heads in response.

"Don't worry about us Gerda. It's him we should be worried about." Elsa nodded to the open doors, and turned to Anna. The sisters shared a worried look, and made to follow the crowd into the palace, but before they could take a step, Elsa noticed a piece of parchment lying on the ground. She picked it up and read it, and as she finished the last lines of the scribbled letter, outwardly gasped.

"What is it?" Anna asked. Elsa handed her the letter.

"Let's just hope that he pulls through, because I need to ask him a few questions when he awakens." Elsa, Anna, and their two companions quickly followed the crowd into the castle, the doctor entering the courtyard just behind them.

* * *

 **Again, so sorry for the reaaallllyyyy late chapter. Like I said, I hope to catch up. So let me know what you thought; questions, concerns, etc, etc. I'm dastardly aren't I? Muahahahaha. Just kidding. ;)**


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